Returning

Since Dean was meeting his wife at the airport on Tuesday morning, we left Mount Beauty on Sunday. It was tough leaving knowing that the hang gliding was over. It was even more difficult since the day looked promising. I kept drooling over the sky all the way to Wallongong. After driving almost 6 hours under horizon-to-horizon cummies, we ran into low coastal clouds and rain just before dropping off the escarpment into Wallongong. I guess no flying at Stanwell either.

Dean and I spent the night at the Tudor Lodge in Stanwell Park and then headed into Sydney on Monday. We dropped off our gliders at the Moyes factory for shipping back home. We then drove downtown to pick up Dean's new rental car before driving back to the suburbs to drop off the "slackerwagon". Dean then dropped me off at the Pacific International Hotel in the Chinatown section of Sydney. I walked down George Street sampling the bakeries on the way to the waterfront and the pubs on the way back. (It is a long walk). The next morning I got up early and walked back down to the waterfront and then through the Royal Botanical Gardens. I should have taken the camera since the gardens were full of interesting sights. I especially liked the colony of large bats (flying foxes) that were just settling in when I passed the grove of trees they roost in. After a couple of hours in the gardens I walked over to a shopping area known as "The Rocks". I cruised through some stores and sampled some more food before heading back to my hotel.

That evening I took the train to visit with Robert Willows and his wife Jo-Anne and 3 daughters. (Robert and Jo-Anne lived in Rhode Island for a couple of years. Robert flew with the "gang" in New England during that time. ) After some catching-up, wine, and lamb on the barbie I headed back.

The next morning Barry Bateman (a Canadian pilot that I first met at Stanwell shortly after I arrived there in December) and I had a late breakfast and a stroll around town before Barry took me to the airport. 21 hours, two sunsets, and one sunrise later I was back in cold, dark, snow covered Boston. Oh joy!